Quiet eye

Quiet eye is a technique reported to improve outcomes in various tasks requiring human visual attention.[1] It has been the subject of several articles in journalistic periodicals,[2][3][4] and of scientific studies that evaluate it in relation to activities such as sports and surgical training.[5][6][7]

[Quiet-eye theory] is deceptively simple: Before you perform an action, you focus your gaze on the salient aspects of your goal—the rim, the catcher’s mitt, the malignant tissue, and so on. In recent years, using eye-tracking technology, researchers have found that locking onto the relevant stimulus during the right time frame—typically the few hundred milliseconds before, during and after the movement—greatly improves your chances of success.

Quiet eye theory can be used both to predict performance,[4] and sometimes, as quiet eye training, as a means to improve performance.[2][7]

Quiet eye training is hypothesised to work by improving attentional control, allowing greater cognitive effort to be devoted to the principal task and as such improving motor learning and the robustness of motor skills under pressure.[8][9]